Selah Griffin, Opinion Editor—
Four years of three-hour art classes, two semesters of creating and critiques, and one thesis exhibition later, four Denison studio art majors will be graduating this year with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.
Two senior BFA thesis exhibitions were held from March 22 until April 6 at Bryant Arts Center and Mulberry House. Studio art majors Ellie Shrader ‘23 and Aileen Schretzmayer ‘23 held their respective installations showcasing their final and most extensive projects.
Shrader’s exhibition, titled, “Museum of Unnatural History,” displayed a collection of ceramic pieces and paintings. Her work aimed to question a museum’s control over archival knowledge by presenting fake archives of artifacts.
“I was already thinking about what I wanted to make for my BFA at the end of junior year and I knew I wanted to make a set of artifacts from a sort of civilization,” said Shrader. “I had a breakthrough when a bunch of my work exploded and I had to piece it all together and I thought ‘This is kind of like the artifacts you would see in museums.’”
Shrader’s interests in anthropology and recent internships at the Denison Museum and the Ohio History Collection are what kickstarted this archeological idea.
“The paintings are supposed to be like the anthropology textbooks you read about dinosaurs and stuff,” said Shrader. “They’re obviously not real photos, they are someone’s imagination or a simulation of past events.”
Each large painting is accompanied by a smaller replica.
“They’re supposed to be sort of field notes, in the sense that they’re my studies or references for the larger paintings.”
Schretzmayer’s series of photographed self portraits in her exhibition, “Mundane Desires,” brings typically private practices into the public eye.
“I tried to capture different environments that are not necessarily photographed,” said Schretzmayer. “The whole thing is a nonlinear narrative, which you don’t typically see.”
Scenes in her exhibition included photographs of Schretzmayer lying in bed, in the shower, or in her kitchen doing dishes.
“My final project freshman year for a photography class was a self portrait, and it really goes to show that what you are originally drawn to comes back,” said Schretzmayer.
Schretzmayer plans on getting her master’s degree in fine arts after Denison.
“It’s a weird feeling, being essentially done,” said Schrader.
“It’s nice being an art major because we are all around each other’s art and around the studio together. I think we all influence each other a little bit,” said Schretzmayer.
The final two BFA thesis exhibitions by seniors Ryan Metzger and Fatimah Bey opened on April 11th and will be available for viewing until April 28th.
